Chemistry of a Car Crash
by Phoenix from the Sun
Summary: Chad never wanted him to leave and during their last summer together he goes to lengths that he would have never imagined to keep Troy to himself. After a horrific night, Chad reflects back on his actions before his life changed forever.


**Disclaimer: **I do not own High School Muscial or any of its characters, Disney does.

**Warnings:** In this chapter there is some language, underaged drinking, and references to sexual content. It is also during their senior year, so HSM 3 does apply. There are also some errors that I most likely missed. They might also be out of character.

**Summary:** Chad never wanted him to leave and during their last summer together he goes to lengths that he would have never imagined to keep Troy to himself. After a horrific night, Chad reflects back on his actions before his life changed forever.

This story is also named after and based on the song _Chemistry of a Car Crash_ by Shiny Toy Guns.

* * *

Chad opened his eyes to look around the room, his head reeling in pain as he heard the beeping of EKGs and the echoes of the walls of the heartbreaking hospital room. The pain continued to sting as he closed his eyes trying to block out everything that had occurred that night. Through blurry vision he looked to his side seeing the face of his girlfriend Taylor.

"Oh thank God!" Taylor gasped as she moved closer to him, holding his hand. "I thought that you weren't going to wake up," he closed his eyes tightly as she stated the obvious. "You were in an accident…"

Chad looked into Taylor's eyes as he got lost in the beeping of the EKG. "How long was I out for?"

"Two days, your dad thought that he lost you for a second," tears formed in her eyes as she shook her head, his eyes closing as he could feel the emotion emitting off of her body, trying to fall out of the situation that he was in. "You scared me. I mean, after what happened to Troy I thought…" she shook her head. "I thought the worst."

Chad's heart broke as he heard those words, his eyes looking into Taylor's seeing more tears within her eyes. "What happened to Troy?"

As Taylor was going to answer, he heard the sound of crying in the doorway. He looked up to see Gabriella in the doorway, her eyes filled with tears. Chad tried to sit up as he looked at her, seeing the glittering of the golden necklace in her hands, but the weakness in his body made him stop where he sat. He looked deeper into those brown eyes as she took an angry step forward.

"Troy's dead," she shook her head. "You killed him!"

"That's enough," Taylor rebutted. "I told you not to jump to conclusions."

"Then how do you explain the injuries?" Gabriella asked. "You want me to believe his neck was broken by a seat belt?"

"Or when he hit the window…" Taylor breathed.

Chad closed his eyes as he heard the words of his best friend's death as if it were all starting to come back to him. But as he was thinking back on the memories of that night, he looked back up at Gabriella. Her pain went through his body, freezing him in place, his heart nearly stopping as he looked deeper into her eyes, hearing the screams inside of her body.

Gabriella moved toward Chad. "You murderer! You killed Troy! You killed him!"

As Taylor started to pull Gabriella out of the room, Chad closed his eyes as he tried to silence her screams, trying not to break down in front of her. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry for your loss."

"Tell that to his parents," she scoffed as she held onto the necklace. "Car crash or not, you killed him, they're never going to forgive you for that, and neither will I…"

Chad closed his eyes as he heard those words. He thought back to when it all started. It was Sharpay's graduation party. That was the first night that all of this started. It was the first night that started the countdown that lead to Troy Bolton's death. He closed his eyes as he tried to slow it all down, tried to make everything start to disappear. But as he did so, he only made the pain sear more, he only brought more of the events to life.

The events leading up to that day were gruesome and painful but it's only necessary for understanding the situation. The following events were to help better understand the chemistry of a car crash.

_**Three weeks before the crash**_

Chad sat in the corner of the room as he looked at Troy across the room, seeing a smile upon his face. He looked at Gabriella who was on his arm. He took another sip from the beer that was in the pink party cup as he looked at the two of them laughing as they talked to Ryan and Kelsi about their acceptance into Julliard. The taste of beer was strong on his tongue as he looked at Troy and Gabriella. The wound of Troy's choice of college still sour within his mouth as it was a difficult idea to swallow. He said that he was fine with it, but he would be lying if he said it didn't still hurt him. As he looked at them, Taylor walked closer to him.

"You're going to have to let it go," she breathed as she moved closer to him. "He has a right to make his own choices. Berkeley is where he wants to be. You're going to have to deal with it."

Chad took another drink. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Her eyes fell on the cup as she realized what was within the plastic vessel. "Is that alcohol?"

Chad nodded. "If I drink at my house my dad will kill me."

She scoffed. "You're drinking alcohol? You know you're underage."

"Thanks, _mom_," Chad breathed as he stood up and started to walk away from her. "This is the last night that we're all going to be together before all of us decide to spend our last summer the way we want to. This is the last summer I will see him…"

"You'll still have breaks."

Chad looked at Troy as he watched him hold one of the pink cups with beer in it taking a sip seeing the grimace on his face as he tried to be polite by taking a drink. He shook his head as he walked toward him.

"Having trouble with your drink, Bolton?" he asked as he moved closer to him.

Troy looked up, a smile on his face. "Chad? I was wondering when you were going to come over here. I was just talking to Ryan and Kelsi about Julliard."

"Julliard," Chad nodded as he smiled at them. "You must be excited."

"We're so excited," Ryan smiled as he looked at Chad, who was clearly uninterested. "I mean any performer worth their salt wants to get into Julliard."

Chad took another sip from his drink as he looked at Troy. Troy was interested in the conversation as he was up for the scholarship as well. As he looked at how interested Troy was in other people's affairs, it made him feel as though he was going to be left behind, that there was going to be another person to out how amazing he was. He watched as he ignored the pink cup, tightening his arm around Gabriella.

"I mean you're interested in theater, right Troy?" Kelsi asked. "It's amazing that you found a school that will offer you both theater and basketball."

"Berkeley's like a dream come true," Troy smiled as he looked at Gabriella. "Not to mention I really hate long distance relationships," he looked at Chad, catching him off guard. "What about you Chad? How are you going to handle the Yale thing?"

Chad looked up at him. "What Yale thing?"

"Taylor's going to Yale…" Troy said as if he were reminding him. "Remember?"

"She can go to Yale if she wants, long distance doesn't work anyway. Like I said: you never take the girl with you to school," Chad looked at Troy. "But I guess if you can't take the girl with you, you move closer to the girl, right Troy?"

"Well if you think it'll last then do what you want."

Chad nodded. "Well luckily for Ryan and Kelsi they'll be going to the same school next year. No long distance then…"

Troy took another sip from his drink as he looked at Chad. "Well we all get lucky every now and then," he smiled as he looked at Gabriella. "I need to go for a while, hold this?" he handed his drink to Gabriella.

"Sure thing," she smiled before she smelled what was in the cup. "Oh God!" her face folding into a grimace. "He's been drinking?"

Chad smiled at Gabriella. "You must be happy; you and Troy are so close next year."

"Yeah, it's like a dream come true. And to see him happy for once, that's another great feeling. I mean theater just makes him feel," a smile rolled across her face making Chad almost sick to his stomach. "_Alive_, you know. I mean you've seen him up there. He loves it."

Chad closed his eyes as he heard those words; those weren't the words that he wanted to hear. He never wanted to hear that Troy was happy doing something outside of his plan. As he looked around the room, he looked for Troy, not knowing where he went off to. He felt like he was in a hell when he couldn't see him, everyone in the room loved Troy; he was such a personable person. Chad felt naked when Troy wasn't by his side; he took another drink of his drink and then started to walk away. He didn't want to talk to Gabriella.

"I need to find Troy," Chad breathed as he walked away from Gabriella seeing Zeke and Jason talking to each other. "Have you guys seen Troy?"

"He went outside for some air," Zeke answered. "He didn't look so good."

"Bolton's no doubt trying to drink to be _polite_," Jason laughed as he shook his head. "He's going to be in pieces tomorrow if he keeps it up. He really needs to understand that drinking and Troy Bolton don't mix."

Chad smiled at that. "So he's outside throwing up."

"I would bet money on it," Jason smiled as he tried to yell above the noise, his voice being easily drowned out. "Whenever there's a party with liquor that's where you find Troy Bolton outside throwing up. It's like an instant hangover with him. Berkeley is going to be so _wild_."

Chad walked through the crowd following Zeke and Jason's advice walking through the room to the door which lead to outside. He could hear the sound of coughing, it was Troy. He didn't even need to see him to know that it was him vomiting. As he walked closer he saw Troy wiping traces of vomit off of his lips, his blue eyes looking up to notice him.

"Chad? What are you…?"

"I heard from Jason that you were out here," Chad smiled as he walked closer to Troy. "If you had told me I would have come earlier so I could hold your hair."

"Very funny."

"Come on, _lightweight_. It's alright that you can't hold your liquor," Chad moved closer to Troy. "Why did you take the drink anyway? You know if you taking a drink is no longer polite if you come out and vomit," a smile rolled across his face as he moved closer to him, watching how harshly his friend was breathing. "How many did you drink? More than one?"

"Two and a half," Troy breathed.

"Whoa!" Chad shook his head. "You need to calm down. Save all of the drinking for Berkeley. Right now you have to calm down and take in the last summer that you will ever have in Albuquerque," he looked into Troy's eyes as the immortal question of the summer passed his lips. "What do you have planned?"

"I don't know. _Chilling_?" Troy shrugged.

"With Gabriella?" Chad asked.

"With anyone who wants to chill with me," he answered. "Maybe get away from my dad for a while. I mean I know that he's pissed at me for changing my mind. He's trying to get over it, but it's hard, sometimes it gets difficult, impossible even."

"I need to get away from mine too," Chad smiled. "He's upset that you're not going to be playing for the Red Hawks next year."

"Berkeley's a good school," Troy shrugged. "I knew that I would get a lot of funny looks for it, but it just makes me feel like I'm in control of my future for once in my life. I mean the rest of my life is mine to choose. I have years ahead of me. This is only the beginning."

Chad smiled as he heard those words. "Maybe you and I should chill…" he smiled. "Get a hotel; get away from out parents, away from Taylor and Gabriella. I mean this is going to be the last time you see me for a while. What do you say?"

"Fine," Troy answered. "But no alcohol, this is going to be the best summer of my life. I want to remember it. I want to remember you."

Chad moved closer to him and wrapped his arm around his shoulders. "Now we need to get into this party before people think that you blew up. I'll get you some water and we'll sit in the corner together when people start dancing and make fun of them."

"See, that's what I like about you, you never change," Troy smiled as he walked by his side. "I think I'm going to like this summer."

If someone had told Chad what was going to happen in those three weeks, he wouldn't have gone out that night and asked that question, he would have stayed inside and talked to Gabriella until he came back into the room. Thinking back on that day, he would have done anything to stop that moment from happening. He would have done anything to keep him alive. Anything.

* * *

This story is another Chad/Troy story but it will be a lot darker than _In a Glass Cage_. I came up with this idea first but then it spawned into three different ideas _(Chemistry of a Car Crash, In a Glass Cage_, and _Not an Addict_.) This is also to celebrate my 20th Birthday (God I'm getting old!)

Feel free to comment and don't just say "it was bad" I want to know how you feel and whay I could do to improve.

This story will turn into the strongest M Rating I have ever done, so be aware!


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